Why we are here?
The reason we were brought into this world is given in the Quran. Although there is no one Sura (chapter) that details all the information regarding this subject in a chronological sequence, yet various Quranic verses give pieces of information. By putting all these pieces of information together we are provided with a complete picture of this subject.
The Quran confirms that we were all living in God's Kingdom before we were brought into this world. Although this is our first and only life on planet earth yet it is not our first existence. We were all living before the earth was even created. We were put to death and reborn into this life on earth:
"Most exalted is the One in whose hands is all kingship, and He is Omnipotent. The One who created death and life for the purpose of distinguishing those among you who would do better. He is the Almighty, the Forgiving" 67:1-2
Since nothing in the Quran is a coincidence, and since God is the Most precise in expressing and delivering any truth, we cannot overlook the order in which the words "The One who created death and life.....". The placing of the word "death" before the word "life" indicates that we were put to death before we were brought to this life on earth, hence we must have been alive before we came to this world.
Sometime, in this previous existence, a few billion years ago, a feud arose in the Heavenly Society:
"Say, "Here is awesome news. That you are totally oblivious to. I had no knowledge previously, about the feud in the High Society." 38:67-69
One of the high-ranking creatures, Satan, entertained supercilious thoughts that his God-given powers qualified him to be a god besides God. He thus challenged God's absolute authority. Not only was Satan's idea blasphemous, it was wrong - only God, and no one else, possesses the qualifications and ability to be a god. Consequent to Satan's blasphemy, a division occurred in the Heavenly Society. There were those who agreed with Satan (that he is capable of being a god). There were also those who were not sure, and then there were those who were under no doubt that God alone has the qualifications to be a god.
As a result, God gathered all those who sided with Satan and also those who were not sure and offered them a second chance to repent and submit to His absolute authority:
"We have offered the responsibility (freedom of choice) to the heavens and the earth, and the mountains, but they refused to bear it, and were afraid of it. But the human being accepted it; he was transgressing, ignorant." 33:72
While the vast majority of the guilty creatures took advantage of this opportunity, a minuscule minority failed to take advantage of this offer and arrogantly preferred to take the responsibility of the test. According to 33:72, we (humans) are among them!
As a result, all God's creatures were classified into four categories:
1. Angels: Creatures who upheld God's absolute authority.
2. Animals: Creatures who rebelled but then accepted God's invitation to repent.
3. Jins: Creatures who agreed with Satan; that he is capable of being a "god."
4. Humans: Creatures who did not make up their minds; they failed to make a firm stand with God's absolute authority, they also rejected the second offer given to them.
The Most Merciful
The angels expected God to banish the creatures who did not uphold His absolute authority (2:30). But God is Most Merciful; He decided to give us a chance to denounce our mistake, and informed the angels that He knew what they did not know (2:30). God knew that some creatures deserved a chance to be redeemed.
If you claim the ability to fly a plane, the best way to test your claim is to give you a plane and ask you to fly it. This is precisely what God decided to do in response to Satan's claim. God created seven vast universes, then informed the angels that He was appointing Satan as a "khalifa" (supreme ruler) on the tiny mote called "Earth" (2:30).
God's plan called for creating death (67:1-2), then bringing the humans and jins into this
world for the soul purpose of rectifying their mistake and for worshipping God.
"I have not created the jins and the humans for any purpose except to worship Me alone." 51:56
Thus, all humans and Jin start over without any biases, and exercise full freedom to uphold God's absolute authority or Satan's polytheistic theory. To make this crucial decision, every human being receives a message from God advocating His absolute authority. This is given to the human in the form of the Scripture sent with guidance and way to salvation. Whoever accepts the guidance and submits to God will then be redeemed into God's Kingdom. Those who refuse it will end up in hell:
"We said, "Go down therefrom, all of you. When guidance comes to you from Me, those who follow My guidance will have no fear, nor will they grieve.
"As for those who disbelieve and reject our revelations, they will be dwellers of Hell, wherein they abide forever." 2:38-39
The human being will also receive a message from the devil pushing his polytheistic principles. To give us a headstart, the Most Merciful gathered all the human beings before Him, prior to sending us to this world, and we bore witness that He alone is our Lord and Master:
"Recall that your Lord summoned all the descendants of Adam, and had them bear witness for themselves: "Am I not your Lord?" They all said, "Yes. We bear witness." Thus, you cannot say on the Day of Resurrection, "We were not aware of this." 7:172
The reader is urged to ask himself/herself if they ever remember making such a witness directly to God? The fact that none of us remembers any such event confirms the fact that we had a previous existence and that we are now oblivious of this existence. As a matter of fact the moment we are brought into this life on earth our memories are wiped clean of our previous existence.
The fact that we all made such a pledge to God is reflected in our natural instinct that is an integral part of every human being. Our instincts come to the fore when we are at the danger of a near death situation. At that time, which may be a split second, our survival instinct takes over and we plead with God to save us, at that time we know that He alone can save us.
After putting the rebels to death, the souls of humans and jins were placed in a special depository. God then created the appropriate bodies to house the souls of jinns and humans during the test period. The first jinn body was made from fire, and Satan was assigned to that body (15:27). The first human body was created from earthly material, clay (15:26), and God assigned the first human soul to that body. The divine plan called for the angels to serve the humans on earth - guard them, drive the wind and rain for them, distribute provisions, etc. This fact is stated in the Quran allegorically: "Your Lord said to the angels, `Fall prostrate before Adam."" Satan of course refused to have anything to do with serving the human race (2:34, 7:11, 17:61, 18:50, 20:116).
While Adam's body remained on earth, the real person, the soul, was admitted into Heaven in the outermost universe. God gave Adam certain commandments, represented by the forbidden tree, and Satan was appointed as Adam's companion to deliver to Adam his satanic message. The rest is history.
Every time a human being is born, a human person is assigned to the new baby from the depository of souls. God assigns the souls in accordance with His knowledge (28:68). Every soul deserves to be assigned to a certain body, and live under certain circumstances. God alone knows which souls are good and which souls are evil. Our children are assigned to our homes in accordance with God"s plan.
An independent jinn soul is also assigned to the new human being to represent Satan"s point of view. While the physical body of any jinn is reproduced from the parent jinns, the jinn soul is that of an independent individual. Jinns are descendants of Satan (7:27, 18:50).
The assigned jinn remains with the human being from birth to death, and serves as the main witness on the Day of Judgment (50:23). A continuous debate takes place in our heads between the human soul and the jinn soul until both of them are convinced of one point of view.
The Original Sin
Contrary to common belief, the "Original Sin" was not Adam"s violation of God's law when he ate from the forbidden tree. The original sin was our failure to uphold God"s absolute authority during the Great Feud.
If the human person convinces his or her jinn companion to denounce that original sin, and uphold God's absolute authority, both creatures are redeemed to God's eternal kingdom on the Day of Judgment. But if the jinn companion convinces the human being to uphold Satan's idolatrous views, then both creatures are exiled forever from God's kingdom.
To promote his point of view, Satan and his representatives advocate the idolization of such powerless creatures as Muhammad, Jesus, Mary, and the saints. Since we are here due to our polytheistic tendencies, most of us are easy prey for Satan.
Satan"s incompetence as a "god" has already been proven by the prevalence of chaos, disease, accidents, misery, and war throughout his dominion (36:66). On the other hand, the human beings who denounce Satan, uphold God"s absolute authority, and refrain from idolizing powerless and dead creatures like Jesus and Muhammad, are restored to God's protection - they enjoy a perfect life here in this world and forever.
Because our life in this world is a series of tests designed to expose our polytheistic ideas, idol worship is the only unforgivable offense (4:48, 116). The world is divinely designed to manifest our decision to uphold either God's absolute authority, or Satan's idolatrous views (67:1-2). The day and the night change constantly to test our willingness to uphold God's laws by observing the Dawn Prayer and fasting during the hottest and longest days. Only those who are totally certain about God"s absolute authority are redeemed (26:89).